Syros: direct Thessaloniki flights this winter

The direct Thessaloniki-Syros air link will continue after the end of the summer season, according to a decision by AEGEAN welcomed by the Municipality of Syros-Ermoupoli. The flights will operate from 27 October 2026 to 8 January 2027, twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday. The decision thus covers the period from the close of the tourist season through the holidays, a period during which the route did not operate in the past.

The schedule provides for departure from Thessaloniki at 10:00 and arrival in Syros at 11:15, with the return departing Syros at 11:45 and arriving in Thessaloniki at 13:00. Flight time is around one hour and fifteen minutes. The route had already been strengthened during 2026: from April, flights increased from three to five a week during the summer season. The winter schedule of two flights a week is therefore a reduction compared with summer, but a continuation compared with the previous full suspension.

For an island that in the winter months depends almost exclusively on ferries, keeping an air link with the country’s second-largest city changes practical realities: a journey that required combining a ferry and a flight via Athens becomes a single leg. The Municipality cites serving residents, professionals, students and families, as well as the goal of Syros functioning as a twelve-month destination rather than only a summer one. The effort for more stable air links is not new on the island: earlier this year an initiative for a daily Syros-Athens air link had been developed. More news from the island can be found on the Syros page. Thessaloniki serves the Aegean islands as an access hub to Northern Greece, for journeys not served by the ferry link to Piraeus.

Deputy Mayor for Tourism Giannis Voutsinos said the next goal is to extend the link across the whole winter period and, gradually, to establish the route on a year-round basis. Whether this is achieved depends primarily on flight occupancy in the October-January period, since continuing an off-season route is judged by its commercial viability. The announcements do not say whether the link is supported by any subsidy scheme, what type of aircraft will be used, or how many seats will be available per flight. The schedule for the period after 8 January 2027 has not been announced, so extension into February and March remains a goal rather than a given. It has also not been announced whether there was prior coordination with other bodies on the island to promote and support the route during the winter months.